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With more than 140 degrees to choose from, UALR offers its students the opportunity to learn from top-ranked faculty and provides invaluable internship opportunities in several in-demand career fields.

About Faculty Excellence

Christy L. Jackson

MARCH 18, 2012

Challenging Concepts with Patience

As an 18-year veteran of teaching mathematics at college and secondary school levels, Christy L. Jackson believes in the Franklin D. Roosevelt adage, â€śThe only thing we have to fear is fear itself.â€ť

An advanced instructor and coordinator for the Department of Mathematics and Statisticsâ€™ recruitment and retention efforts, Jackson provides a positive classroom environment that is both comfortable and calm, while also being challenging and engaging.

As a result, she has developed a reputation among students that her classes are tough but fair. She believes students are more successful when they feel they have an advocate who believes in them.

â€śChristy helps students grasp the fundamental knowledge of mathematical concepts, foster critical thinking, acquire life-long learning skills, develop problem-solving strategies, and build the habit of discovery,â€ť said Katie Young, assistant dean for undergraduate programs in the Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology. â€śShe not only teaches concepts but also offers relevant examples that make the potentially difficult concepts easy to understand.â€ť

She makes herself constantly available for questions through email, Blackboard, or office hours, and makes each studentâ€™s success her personal goal. A recent peer evaluation stated, â€śAlthough she goes out of her way to provide extra activities, videos, and supplemental instruction, she still places the ultimate responsibility of learning on her students.â€ť

Dawn Johnson, a former student who took Calculus I and II, said, â€śMs. Jackson has patience, an approachable demeanor, and undeniable intelligence. Her patience is appreciated by any confused student.â€ť

Jackson first began teaching at UALR nine years ago. She earned a B.A. degree, summa cum laude, in mathematics with an emphasis in economics from Hendrix College in 1990 and an M.S. degree in applied mathematics, summa cum laude, from UALR in 1994.